No. 63,J 179 



mark it may be said that although some of the Best wheat farms in 

 the county are to be found on the Marcellus shales and the Hamil- 

 ton group, much the largest portion of wheat grown in Onondaga 

 is produced north of the line which separates the jVTarcellus shales 

 from the Limestone groups; and though the detritus of these groups 

 thrown upon the shales, has given an excellent wheat soil for some 

 three or four miles in width across the county, to the south of this 

 line the effects of the shale subsoil in the retention of moisture and 

 the reduction of temperature, will make itself felt where this trans- 

 ported mass is not of such thickness as to prevent. On the most 

 elevated lands of the southern towns, frost has such a destructive ef- 

 fect on winter sown wheat, that, unless in some favored location, 

 spring wheat is usually sown in preference to the former. In this 

 county, wheat is usually sown on a clover fallow; and on the best 

 farms wheat, clover, and sheep husbandry, are considered almost in- 

 separable. The fields intended for wheat, are fed with sheep until 

 June; it being considered better to feed off the clover crop upon the 

 ground ■than to turn the whole under; when it is carefully turned 

 over, and the clover and roots having had time to ferment, it is 

 again plowed one or more times, as is necessary, and then sown 

 with wheat. From the first to the fifteenth of September, is found 

 t« be, on the whole, the best time for sowing. Earlier, the drouth 

 and the fly frequently prove injurious; later, this plant does not get 

 sufficiently rooted to withstand the frosts of our severe winters. 

 Clover seed, at the rate of from four to six pounds per acre, is sown 

 on the wheat in the spring. Some farmers use timothy sefed with 

 their clover, but on suitable soils clover alone has the preference. 

 A material change of opinion has taken place within a few years in 

 favor of plentiful seeding with clover and grass, and the effects on 

 the rapid improvment of the soil are most manifest. Plaster is sown 

 on the wheat in April or May, not so much for the benefit of the 

 wheat as the young clover; and many farmers plaster their clover 

 the second year also. On soils in good condition, however, this se- 

 cond plas:tering is dispensed with, as giving too luxuriant a growth 

 to the clover, making the stem too large and coarse. The first and 

 second years, the clover is pas^red, and the third year it is again in 

 wheat. If it is necessary to mow any part of the land intended for 

 wheat, a dressing of manure or compost is given; otherwise, where 

 the clover is fed off on the land, manure is deemed unnecessary as 

 applied to the wheat crop. Summer fallowing, as formerly prac- 

 ticed, is not deemed advisable except for the purpose of cleaning 

 lands. Where lands are very foul, a crop can hardly be secured 

 without it. Peas are by many used as a preparatory crop for wheat, 

 and with good success; particularly where manure is needed. The 

 ground is well manured in the spring or the fall preceding, and a 

 short time previous to sowing, is skilfully turned over, rolled and 

 harrowed. The peas sown get the first benefit of the manure; that 

 and the turf covered by the pea crop are thoroughly decomposed, 

 the peas ara taken off in season, and the ground requires \^t a sin- 

 gle plowing to fit it for the wheat. The greatest danger the wheat 



